1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to remote computing. More specifically, embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for establishing and maintaining communications across a network between peripheral drivers of a host computer and a remote computer connected to at least one peripheral device and/or emulating communications in the absence of a remote computer or peripheral device.
2. Background
Historic advances in computer technology have made it economical for individual users to have their own computing system, which caused the proliferation of the Personal Computer (PC). Continued advances of this computer technology have made these personal computers very powerful but also complex and difficult to manage. For this and other reasons there is a desire in many workplace environments to separate the user interface devices, including audio peripheral devices such as microphone, headphones, speakers, digital transceivers or other peripherals from the application processing parts of the computing system. In such a configuration, the user interface devices are physically located at the desktop, while the processing and storage components of the computer are placed in a central location remote from the desktop. The user interface devices are then connected to the processor and storage components by some method of communication such as a computer network.
Existing methods for supporting remote peripheral device, e.g., remote desktop application supporting remote monitors and audio codecs typically require custom drivers, and are prone to unreliable operation of the peripheral. Network latency and/or non-continuous data streams cause communications interruptions or even communications failure between a remotely located peripheral and a host computer, resulting in intermittent resetting or timeout of the peripheral and/or the peripheral driver. The resulting discontinuous operation is irritating to a user.
In the case of MICROSOFT WINDOWS environments, codecs are not readily discovered after an initial boot sequence which makes later connection of such devices problematic.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved method and apparatus for providing peripheral connection management in a remote computing environment.